Iran's president: Saudi should be 'punished' for hajj deaths

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2015, file photo, a Muslim pilgrim walks through the site where dead bodies are gathered after a stampede during the annual hajj pilgrimage, in Mina, Saudi Arabia. The website of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quotes him on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, accusing Saudi Arabia of causing the death of injured pilgrims in last year's hajj stampede saying, "The ruthless and criminal Saudi men locked half-alive injured people up along with the dead in tightly closed containers and martyred them." (AP Photo, File)
(The Associated Press)

In this photo released by official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks at a weekly cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says Islamic countries should take "punitive" measures against Saudi Arabia following the deaths of over two thousand pilgrims in a crush of crowds during last year's hajj. The official IRNA news agency quotes Rouhani as saying the pilgrims lost their lives because of the "lack of qualification" of Saudi authorities. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
(The Associated Press)

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says Islamic countries should take "punitive" measures against Saudi Arabia following the deaths of over two thousand pilgrims in a crush of crowds during last year's hajj.

The official IRNA news agency quotes Rouhani Wednesday as saying the pilgrims lost their lives because of the "lack of qualification" of Saudi authorities.

Rouhani says "regional countries and the Islamic world should take coordinated measures to punish the government of Saudi Arabia in order to have a real hajj."

According to an Associated Press count 2,426 pilgrims were killed in last September's hajj stampede, among them 464 Iranians.